The Digital Camera Thread: Questions, discussions, etc.

[whatcanthisbe]

hmm
how would you rate the d80 & the 350D s51s against each other with a 50 mm lens

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by whatcanthisbe

hmm
how would you rate the d80 & the 350D s51s against each other with a 50 mm lens

I can't do that. I havent used a D80. I own just a 350D.
But 350D is much cheaper than D80.
As for 50mm lens
I own the 70$ 50mm 1.8 prime lens which has given me wonderful photos. Esp useful for potraits and low light photography.
When we went to singapore, we went to bird park and night safari where flash was not allowed. The 50mm 1.8 saved me. At ISO 1600 I could take such pics with ease
Handeld

1/5s with handrail as support

Handheld

Handheld

Handheld(Shows DOF control)

Another ISO 1600 handheld shot


This lens performs best at F-4-F5.6 where photos come out razor sharp, just like L lenses. But its 70$ only.
Another long exposure at F2.5


So now you have enough samples from me,
flickr.com camera finder will give you much more samples!

[whatcanthisbe]

wow great pics man can you e-mail me the full versions at my e-mail addy achadha7 at hotmail REMOVE THIS dot com
also the name of the lense .. how long have you been shooting for ? the hand held shots look awesome ...

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by whatcanthisbe

wow great pics man can you e-mail me the full versions at my e-mail addy achadha7 at hotmail REMOVE THIS dot com
also the name of the lense .. how long have you been shooting for ? the hand held shots look awesome ...

Here you go
Tanveer Singh (tanveer)'s photos - powered by SmugMug

Check out night safari and Zoo gallery.
For detailed photo info Hover mouse over image and then click on info.
You can view large images too by clicking on large.

This lens is Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II lens
74$
at amazon

Camera used it Canon Rebel 350D(XT in the US). It has been replaced by 400D which retails for around 600-650$ body only, which comes to about 50-60$ more than this one.
I have been shooting with this for about15 months. Bought this cam in March 2006

[navin]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Another out of the box option if you want really really really good image quality is the Sony R1
That 24-110mm lens is to die for.

From Adorama, the GX100 is $700 with the EVF so budget wise the R1 fits fine.

I did see the R1 but it was too bulky to slide into my laptop bag and it is over 2lbs in weight. That is half the weight of my laptop!

The more I think about it the GX100 seems perfect. Most times when I am caught with my "pants down" is when I got a 70-300 on my camera and something needs a wide so a 24-72 is about right for me.

Now only to find some useful reviews and real user feedback.

BTW you have an excellent gallery. Kept me up 90 mins past my bedtime.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by navin

Now only to find some useful reviews and real user feedback.

Thats the difficult part. dpreview has a few members who rave about it. But then dpreview has all kind of members. GX100 is a new cam so it may be some time before all quirks and good things get known.
BTW, did you know I almost bought the R1. I go to this Sony Digital world in Noida. R1 retails for around 49000. I tell him I want interest free 3 year scheme but no processing fee(1000 was the norm). And I want a discount.
He agrees and says 47500 is last price. Then I get to know that the sony dealer in Ludhiana will give for 46000 and no interest EMI and no processing fee. I ask this guy if he is willing, if so I will buy right now, he does not agree, and since I am going to ludhiana in another 2 weeks I postpone it.
Meanwhile I get to handle the 350D and fall in love. It cost me 46000 with B&W and 1GB card included. 7500 extra for canon 75-300 USM III lens. So if that day the guy had agreed for 46000, I would have had a R1 instead of a 350D. I would have missed the bird shots and my landscapes would have gotten wider

BTW you have an excellent gallery. Kept me up 90 mins past my bedtime.

Thank you ji!

[whatcanthisbe]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Here you go
Tanveer Singh (tanveer)'s photos - powered by SmugMug

Check out night safari and Zoo gallery.
For detailed photo info Hover mouse over image and then click on info.
You can view large images too by clicking on large.

Damn nice pics !!! well what mode do you normally shoot in ? was it in Amode or did you manually set the iso etc etc ? how do you figure out what uiso will work for what situation ? just practice ?

Originally Posted by tsk1979

This lens is Canon EF 50mm F/1.8 II lens
74$
at amazon

Camera used it Canon Rebel 350D(XT in the US). It has been replaced by 400D which retails for around 600-650$ body only, which comes to about 50-60$ more than this one.
I have been shooting with this for about15 months. Bought this cam in March 2006

hmm does this lens have IS ?

on Dpreview and other sites this is what i read

EOS 400D
Cons
Kit lens disappointing, better to buy body only and spend more on a good lens

K

Sporadic continuous shooting once buffer is full
Occasional under-exposure issue with Evaluative metering
Average automatic white balance performance, still very poor under incandescent light
ISO, WB, Metering mode etc. not displayed on viewfinder status bar during change
Flash must be raised for AF assist
No Kelvin white balance selection in-camera
No spot metering


No mass storage device USB driver, poor WIA transfer rates (and awkward to use)
Opening the CF compartment door shuts camera down, loses any buffered images
dont care abt the last 2


D80
High sensitivity (ISO) noise levels higher than Canon EOS 400D
Noise reduction can be intrusive, although adjustable, more grain-like appearance
Default sharpness level perhaps still a little conservative
Disappointing automatic white balance performance in incandescent light
No RAW adjustment with supplied PictureProject, only simple conversion
Limited image parameter adjustment (especially for color saturation)
Slower maximum shutter speed (1/4000 vs 1/8000 sec) compared to D70/D70s
Price difference to the competition

[tsk1979]

I rarely use Auto mode. Infact almost never. It all comes from practice. As a thumb rule I try to keep ISO as low as possible. But when too low an ISO means image blur due to camera shake, I crank up the ISO.
So my daylight shots are at ISO 100 or ISO 200. for evenings I may need ISO 400-800. For night shots, if I use a tripod its ISO 100, but handheld I need to use 1600.
It all comes with practice.

As for the cost of 400D
1. I never shoot bursts. esp long bursts. You need long bursts only if you are shooting action and do not know when will the decisive moment take place. So for normal photography its not a con. For those who desire action there is the 30D/20D in canon land
2. This can be an issue, i.e. photos can turn out darker. but if you are at ISO 100-200 and shoot RAW you can easily recover 1/3-2/3 of a stop without bothering. Cheers to low noise.
3. Same problem with most cameras. In bulb light white balance goes for a toss. I shoot RAW always, so no issue for me.
4. you got to be careful about settings. Sometimes the camera is at ISO 1600 and you are not aware!
5. Not really an issue, but a dedicated orange AF lamp is nice
6.Kelvin WB is nice, but if you shoot RAW you don't care
7.An issue, but with practice you get to know how to dial in exposure compensation. But its a limitation all right.

Now to the Nikon
1. I use low light handheld, that was one of the reasons of choosing Canon
2. ditto
3. does not matter, its okay you can do adjustments in camera
4. See what I wrote about this above
5. Forces you to use third party software, not a good thing
6. Workable, not a big deal
7.1/4000 is good enough
8. Thats a show stopper


On the 50mm lens, it does not have IS. IS lenses are expensive $$$.

If you really want IS and are on a budget I suggest you go for the Pentax K100D. If you are okay with RAW shooting all the time K10D is very very good. All your lenses are IS then. But lens catalogue of pentax is still small as compared to Canon Nikon, esp in India.

EDIT: Navin, look at this
Ricoh GX100 Photos - PhotographyBLOG
GX100 pics. Even at ISO 200 noise is high.

[navin]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

EDIT: Navin, look at this
Ricoh GX100 Photos - PhotographyBLOG
GX100 pics. Even at ISO 200 noise is high.

Thanks.

I kinda expected this. The GR too is noisy. just look at the grain in these shots (from the same link you provided).

http://www.photographyblog.com/image...o_gx100_15.jpg

http://www.photographyblog.com/image...o_gx100_04.jpg

I think in the digital domain, canon has the noise-detail equiation right. their software is most able to deal with noise and not loose too much detail.

which is why so many of my initial short list were canons (G6, G7, A640, A710IS, S80). Back to square one. For a $600-700 camera the GX100 should perfrom better. The G7 is almost $200 cheaper.

What about the C7070 from Oly. It is old. but how does it compare with the C8080?

[tsk1979]

C8080 is a better cam no doubt. Again C8080 will be noisy above ISO 200.
Infact in small sensors if you want less noise you have to buy Fuji. They are the best in compact range when it comes to low noise. Second is Canon.

Another andecote to bore you with.
I was planning to upgrade my Canon powershot A20(2MP silly camera) with a Prosumer and DSLR.
So before I got hooked on to purchasing DSLR I thought of getting a prosumer(2004-2005)
At that time there were about 6 Prosumer 8MP cams in market
Canon Powershot Pro1
Sony F828
Oly 8080
Konica Minolta A2
Nikon Coolpix 8800

Out of which I thought of getting the 8080, and a good friend of mine though of F828.
However things turned out differently and I ordered a Pentax *ist DS from the US. The retailer bungled the order and my cam never came, so I bought canon in Feb 2006.
That friend of mine got the Sony R1 because he is a stickler for landscapes, and arguably 24-120mm lens on that R1 is simply great.

Coming back to 8080, it goes upto ISO 400 but the newer canons will offer better noise level performance. Fuji rules the roost(right from F10 days) as far as low noise is concerned.
How about Fuji Fixepix S9100(9600). That has hot shoe?

[HellwratH]

Tsk,

Regarding the pentax k100D, is it true that you can mount any darn pentax lens on it, and I think the shake reduction is on the body, so all the lenses automatically become IS?

[whatcanthisbe]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I rarely use Auto mode. Infact almost never. It all comes from practice. As a thumb rule I try to keep ISO as low as possible. But when too low an ISO means image blur due to camera shake, I crank up the ISO.
So my daylight shots are at ISO 100 or ISO 200. for evenings I may need ISO 400-800. For night shots, if I use a tripod its ISO 100, but handheld I need to use 1600.
It all comes with practice.

As for the cost of 400D
1. I never shoot bursts. esp long bursts. You need long bursts only if you are shooting action and do not know when will the decisive moment take place. So for normal photography its not a con. For those who desire action there is the 30D/20D in canon land
2. This can be an issue, i.e. photos can turn out darker. but if you are at ISO 100-200 and shoot RAW you can easily recover 1/3-2/3 of a stop without bothering. Cheers to low noise.
3. Same problem with most cameras. In bulb light white balance goes for a toss. I shoot RAW always, so no issue for me.
4. you got to be careful about settings. Sometimes the camera is at ISO 1600 and you are not aware!
5. Not really an issue, but a dedicated orange AF lamp is nice
6.Kelvin WB is nice, but if you shoot RAW you don't care
7.An issue, but with practice you get to know how to dial in exposure compensation. But its a limitation all right.

Now to the Nikon
1. I use low light handheld, that was one of the reasons of choosing Canon
2. ditto
3. does not matter, its okay you can do adjustments in camera
4. See what I wrote about this above
5. Forces you to use third party software, not a good thing
6. Workable, not a big deal
7.1/4000 is good enough
8. Thats a show stopper


On the 50mm lens, it does not have IS. IS lenses are expensive $$$.

If you really want IS and are on a budget I suggest you go for the Pentax K100D. If you are okay with RAW shooting all the time K10D is very very good. All your lenses are IS then. But lens catalogue of pentax is still small as compared to Canon Nikon, esp in India.

EDIT: Navin, look at this
Ricoh GX100 Photos - PhotographyBLOG
GX100 pics. Even at ISO 200 noise is high.

ahh crap this makes it more confusing!!! I drink a lot of coffee and sometimes get caffine jitters when caffine leves are low in my system .... so ...


what s/w do you use for RAW processing ? from what i have read / seen the adobe one is nice

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by HellwratH

Tsk,

Regarding the pentax k100D, is it true that you can mount any darn pentax lens on it, and I think the shake reduction is on the body, so all the lenses automatically become IS?

Yes, but you may not have Autofocus on all the lenses. But most new lenses work.

Originally Posted by whatcanthisbe

ahh crap this makes it more confusing!!! I drink a lot of coffee and sometimes get caffine jitters when caffine leves are low in my system .... so ...


what s/w do you use for RAW processing ? from what i have read / seen the adobe one is nice

Sometimes I use canon inbuilt software, sometimes gimp and sometimes PS, all work great.

[HellwratH]

Cool, so the pentax k100D is a good option. Thanks a lot Tsk. The pentax lenses seem to be pretty cheap on ebay, any idea about the quality?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by HellwratH

Cool, so the pentax k100D is a good option. Thanks a lot Tsk. The pentax lenses seem to be pretty cheap on ebay, any idea about the quality?

Yes K10D and K100D are nice cams. you can check out reviews, though K10D in camera JPG is not too good. Whats very good is the viewfinder on those cams, much better than the silly dark one canon gives.

As for ebay, everything on ebay is a gamble. Buy at your own risk.
I would suggest getting Pentax made for digital lenses.